The present invention generally relates to shotguns or rifles, and more particularly to a removable magazine capable of being preloaded with shells before mounting in the shotgun or rifle.
Various type of arrangements are used for storing and feeding shot shells into the chamber of a shotgun or rifle. Some shotguns have integral permanently or semi-permanently affixed non-removable magazines that hold the shells in end-to-end relationship. Such magazines are manually loaded in place and not intended to be removed for reloading during normal use of the firearm. In both manual pump action and inertia/gas-driven auto-loading feed mechanisms, the shells are fed rearwards from the magazine towards an open action or breech. From there, the shells are loaded into the chamber at the rear of the barrel and the breech is closed and readied for firing via a trigger-actuated fire control mechanism. After firing, the spent shells am extracted from the chamber and ejected through an external port from the re-opened breech. A fresh shell may now be loaded in the foregoing manner.
The foregoing permanently affixed magazines require shells to be manna loaded one at time into the magazine. This may be a cumbersome and time consuming reloading process, especially in exigent circumstances when the ability to quickly reload is of utmost importance. Although removable box style magazines having vertically stacked shells have been used, these magazine protrude downwards from the receiver of the shotgun which some users may find cumbersome.
An improved removable firearm magazine is desired.